Business spending on OpenAI models jumps to a record, new data shows

OpenAI is making remarkable strides in the business sector, outpacing competitors like Anthropic and Google in the enterprise AI landscape, according to fresh insights released this week. This surge in popularity comes despite concerns raised earlier about Google's Gemini chatbot closing in on ChatGPT. The data, sourced from Ramp—a startup focused on streamlining corporate bill payments—analyzes spending trends from over 50,000 US businesses. The latest figures reveal that in December 2025, the share of US companies investing in AI products and services increased to 46.6%, marking a significant rise of 1.6 percentage points from the previous month. This was the most substantial month-over-month growth seen since mid-2025. OpenAI played a pivotal role in this upswing, with business adoption of its products climbing to a record 36.8%, a two percentage point increase that reversed a brief slowdown experienced in the fall. The report indicates a rise in both enterprise chat subscriptions and API expenditures, suggesting that OpenAI's tools are becoming increasingly essential for office workers and technical teams alike. Although the exact number of paid users for OpenAI remains uncertain, the company reported having one million business customers as of November 2025. This rebound in usage emphasizes OpenAI's stronghold in the enterprise AI market, especially as companies shift from preliminary testing to committed, ongoing use of AI in their daily operations—spanning software development, research, finance, sales, and customer support. Other competitors are gradually gaining traction, albeit at a slower rate. Anthropic's adoption rose to 16.7%, primarily among tech firms heavily utilizing APIs. Google's AI usage also saw an uptick to 4.3%, though this figure may not fully capture actual usage since many businesses can access Gemini for free through Google Workspace. It's important to note that these figures from Ramp do not account for free AI tool usage or instances where employees use personal accounts for work-related tasks, indicating that actual AI adoption rates could be higher than reported.